Silly Bride

Chapter 286

business card.“Nice to meet you guys. I’m a journalist from ABC News. I came here on a holiday, but I didn’t expect to bump into you two. May I have the honor of interviewing you guys? I can assure you it won’t take up too much of your time,” said the man.Winnie furrowed her brows as she mulled over the man’s words. “Thank you for your interest, but why are you interviewing us if you’re on a holiday?”It’d be more believable if he said he was conducting street interviews at the foot of Mount Albeise and coincidentally saw us. On the other hand, this situation is just too strange.“You see, Ms. Vivian…” Since Winnie didn’t outright reject him, the bespectacled journalist even pulled out his handy dandy recording pen.He then began to explain, “Previously, other journalists reported that the Speiser family is interested in arranging a marriage with the Huxley family. They said that you and Mr. Nathaniel are preparing for your engagement. We’ve asked for clarification, but we weren’t able to get any reliable information. I didn’t expect to bump into you and Mr. Nathaniel here at all. Are you two really dating? When are you two planning to get engaged or perhaps get married?”Confusion was plastered all over Winnie’s face when she heard the journalist’s words. She even lowered her gaze to look at the name that was printed on the business card.In a polite tone, she queried, “What are you talking about, Mr. Graham? What arranged marriage? What engagement? Why don’t I know anything about this?”The journalist felt rather speechless for a moment and chuckled in response. “How can you not know about this, Ms. Vivian? Look, I even took a picture of you and Mr. Nathaniel.”A crease appeared between Winnie’s brows as she looked over at Nathaniel. “What’s going on?”Just as Nathaniel was about to speak, the journalist piped up first, “Ms. Vivian, if you’re unwilling to answer that question, why don’t I ask you another one? Is it true that you married a Chanaean man? Is the marriage between you two legal?” Looking at the unrelenting man in front of her, Winnie said in a stern voice, “I’m sorry, Mr. Graham, but until I figure out exactly what’s going on, I will not be answering any of your questions.”“Why?” The journalist attempted to probe further. “Is it that hard to answer a couple of questions? Could it be that Wilhelm Speiser is lying?”At that, Winnie’s frown grew deeper. “What does this have to do with Wilhelm?”“Mr. Wilhelm publicly denied the fact that you were ever married in Chanaea. He also said that you have the freedom of marriage. There are people who are speculating that you two are doing this for your upcoming marriage into the Huxley family. Do you have any comments? Or perhaps you’d like to set the facts straight?”Winnie truly didn’t know what had happened while she was gone, but the journalist kept hounding her, and his questions were deliberately phrased in a way that was leading her to answer in a certain manner.It wasn’t an interview but rather a scheme to lure her into acknowledging matters she hadn’t even heard of, and Winnie did not like this feeling at all.Having had enough of the journalist’s unscrupulous behavior, Winnie scolded, “Please abide by your professional ethics, Mr. Graham. I didn’t agree to your interview, nor did I answer any of your questions. Please stop your baseless assumptions and speculations!”At that, Nathaniel took a step forward to put some space between Winnie and the journalist. “I believe it’s time for you to leave, Mr. Graham. Otherwise, I’ll call the police.”The argument between the three of them had caught the attention of the motel’s receptionist, and she was already holding onto the phone at the front desk.As soon as Nathaniel gave her the order, she would immediately call the police.It was then the journalist finally realized he had been too hasty and had almost angered the two people in front of him.He immediately apologized to Winnie, but Winnie did not accept it. Not only did she ask him to leave, but she also made him delete the picture he had taken of them.After the journalist left, Winnie instantly found a table in the restaurant to sit at.“Tell me.” She looked at the man sitting in front of her with a stern gaze. “What the h*ll is going on?”Nathaniel strung his words together and explained everything that had happened thus far.When she heard everything, Winnie couldn’t help but scoff. “As expected, it’s Helen.”Nathaniel was surprised by her response. “Judging by your reaction, did you already know she’d do this?”“No, of course not,” said Winnie. “But I’m not surprised by the fact that she was the one who started it. Wilhelm must’ve gotten on her bad side. Still, I didn’t expect she’d come up with such a story. It’s completely absurd! Does she intend to take revenge on my brother like this? By attacking us with a baseless rumor?”Smiling sheepishly, Nathaniel chimed in, “It… isn’t entirely baseless.”Winnie looked at the man, confused. “What do you mean? Don’t tell me you’re the one who leaked the news?”After that, she did not hesitate to make her opinion on the matter clear. “My beloved business partner, Nathaniel Huxley, I’ve told you that I prefer Chanaean men. Plus, you already know that I married Xavier in Chanaea. He’s my lover.”“Oh, my dear Ms. Vivian, of course, I know.” Nathaniel smiled, masking the hint of disappointment in his expression. After a brief pause, he added, “I must say you’ve misunderstood me as I didn’t leak any information at all. The truth is, our families did try to hook us up in the past. My mother always knew that I wanted an Aplothian woman as my soulmate, but back then, I didn’t know you were the Speiser family’s adopted daughter, nor did I know you were my collaborator, Ms. Gator, so I rejected my mother’s suggestion without hesitation. Hence, Helen’s story isn’t completely baseless.”Winnie’s brows furrowed. “I didn’t know any of that.”“I know. It’s probably because I refused to meet you, so your family didn’t tell you about it.”“That’s possible.” Winnie nodded.Then, she said to Nathaniel earnestly, “I apologize for misunderstanding you earlier. I hope you can forgive me.”“No worries, but…” The man pondered for a moment before saying, “The news has already spread to a global scale, and the discussion in Chanaea is particularly heated. Although our engagement is false, your brother’s statement is true. Perhaps you should check on Xavier. You’ve been cut off from the rest of the world for the past few days, and I’m sure he must’ve called you a lot during this period. To be honest, when I first saw the news, I tried calling you as well, but either your phone was out of the service area or the call was left unanswered.”“Oh, right! You reminded me.” Winnie instantly fished her phone out of her backpack. “I have to give him a call.”Flashing a smile at the woman, Nathaniel said, “Okay, go ahead. I’ll go get you a cup of coffee. The usual, right?”Winnie’s phone had shut down, and she was looking for her power bank. Hence, she didn’t look up while responding, “Yeah, thanks.”“You don’t have to be so courteous with me,” said Nathaniel as he stood up.However, by the time he returned with the coffee, Winnie was no longer at the table.She had left him a note, telling him that both her phone and power bank were dead, so she was going back to her room to charge her phone.While they were talking earlier, the bespectacled journalist had already uploaded the picture he’d taken to social media.It turned out that he hadn’t deleted every copy of the picture from his phone and had kept a copy on cloud storage.He had a social media account in Chanaea and had accumulated quite a huge following.The scandal between Winnie and the CEO of Fairchild Corporation had been trending. The journalist knew that, and he knew that he’d be able to reap the benefits of the situation.Hence, he quickly turned the picture into a video and an article before publishing them on his platform in Chanaea.It didn’t take long for Xavier to see what the journalist had published, and his mind went blank when he saw it.All of a sudden, he recalled what Josiah previously asked him.Did she take the picture herself, or was it taken by another? Did she go alone, or did someone else go with her? Who is that person?Xavier’s curiosity was piqued when he saw the picture of Winnie and Nathaniel that the journalist had taken when he bumped into the two.Did they really go together?At that thought, Xavier picked up his phone, intending to give Winnie a call.However, he truly hated the anxiousness that would torment him whenever he had to wait for someone to answer the